The Escape Artist
Posted on Tue Feb 11th, 2025 @ 11:54pm by Captain Qa'ada MD & Lieutenant Commander Reruk & Commander Naois Mercy MD & Lieutenant Amelia Fox & Lieutenant JG Toareth Darqa & Lieutenant JG Jasmine Brooks
1,957 words; about a 10 minute read
Mission:
Fortuna
Location: U.S.S. Britannic/Fortuna Colony
Timeline: Current
Captain Qa'ada stood next to the Captain's Chair on the Bridge of the Britannic watching the colony's shuttle on the viewscreen. The Aurelian Doctor kept his arms crossed against his chest as he watched, carefully calculating out their next moves. Qa'ada was a doctor first, a healer of the sick and injured, and he wasn't a tactical officer. Leading combat missions - even of this limited scale - wasn't in his wheelhouse.
Walking behind the forward two consoles, "Are the away teams back aboard?"
From the Mission Ops console, a young Ensign (who Qa'ada didn't recognize) answered, "They're aboard, Captain."
"Finally. Close distance, Helm," the Captain ordered as he turned toward the Flight Controller. He looked to the Tactical Officer seated nearby, "Ready Tractor Beam."
Though Toareth had given Amelia the medication to combat the effects of thelon radiation exposure, which said medication would certainly lead to weariness and drowsiness, Toareth shot her in the neck with a hypospray of adrenaline to counteract the side effects of the other medication. She departed Sick Bay immediately for the Bridge. Somehow, Toareth, felt she knew Amelia in a far greater degree than she actually did know Amelia. And she knew that Amelia would want to be in the pilot's chair during this time. So, Amelia had, in her system, medication to ward off the effects of thelon radiation exposure and medication to stave off drowsiness; all to get her back in the pilot's chair as soon as possible. Toareth did not envy the headache Amelia was going to have in an hour's time; a headache that just might rival her migraines. Besides, there was medication for that as well, but when the time came.
The doors to the Bridge opened and Toareth emerged from the Turbolift. "Captain," Toareth said as she stepped toward the medical station, "recall that is not Dr. Tukuk. Whomever...whatever that is...he is wanted for murder and for the institution of the plague on Xachara. Knowing that...he may attempt to resist tractoring." Toareth had read too many reports of smaller vessels resisting tractoring and ending up causing their own warp core breach. "We need him alive as he may be the only one who can stop what is happening on Xachara."
Naois was close on their heels, having come straight to the bridge. He tried to make himself a little more presentable by dusting himself off but he knew it was a vain attempt. "Alive does have preference, but we have no guarantee he will assist us. Given his option to flee, and the murder of doctor Tukuk, I would assume quite the opposite." His blue eyes flashed with reigned in anger as he took his seat. "If required, I will draw the cure right from his memories," he vowed.
Jasmine stepped out of the turbolift and silently headed towards the science station. She felt anxious for some reason like everyone one the bridge was watching her but a quick glance around only saw the Captains glaze meet hers briefly.
"Only if he does have the cure," Toareth said in reply to Naois. "He murdered Tukuk and deleted all records of the vaccine, to include his deletion of the records. Does not mean he knows the cure. But undeleting records will be far easier with him alive. I will work with LT Brooks," Toareth looked to Jasmine, "to attempt to scan the shuttle and determine whom or what we are dealing with." The culprit appeared to be Dr. Tukuk. She could only theorize if they were dealing with a Changeling, a Chameloid, or some rogue agent utilizing DNA and/or appearance altering technology.
In Sickbay, Amelia came round on a biobed. Although she felt a lot better, Her head was still throbbing. She let out a moan. "Someone take me out of the warp core, I'm cooked."
She sat up, still a bit groggy. "What happened?"
"Medicinal side effects," said Keselowski as he stepped up to her. Sick Bay was his whenever Toareth was gone. "You were exposed to some kind of radiation. It was most likely the cause of your hallucinations, if that is what they were. Toar will have to investigate further. But there was an explosion...nowhere near where you were. And we are now in pursuit of a shuttle attempting escape. Toar gave you additional medicine to wake you up; said you may have a headache for a bit. But felt you would want to be in the pilot's chair for this."
Amelia blinked, her headache forgotten. She hopped off the biobed with a newfound energy and called a "Thank you" over her shoulder as she headed for the door. She made a beeline for the nearest turbolift barking "Main Bridge" as the doors closed behind her. As the lift started to ascend, she allowed herself to rest against the wall for a moment as she caught her breath.
"That was stupid!" She said to herself as she tried to breath low and slow, in hopes it would stop the lift from spinning around which it seemed to be doing. She steeled herself and stood up straight as the lift came to a halt and the doors opened revealing the Brittanic's bridge.
She stepped onto the bridge and stopped, realising this would be the first time she had been asked to take the helm. "Lieutenant Fox, reporting for duty."
In sickbay, Syvar had kept his distance but he couldn't hide the worry as he approached Keselowski. "Was it wise to let her go?" He asked softly.
Brad look to the Vulcan with a shrug. "Toar gave her approval for LT Fox's return to duty once she awoke. I asked her the same thing. So, I hope it was wise to do so."
Captain Qa'ada had listened to everything that the Officers on the Bridge of the Britannic had said to him. Doctor Tukuk was not who he appeared to be and that was the most dangerous part of all of this. As odd as it seemed the Captain hoped that this was just a case of a rogue agent or someone with the equipment to change their appearance. If not this was far more dangerous than any of them could imagine. If the agent were a Changeling then this was far more devastating. It could even reignite the Dominion War. He wasn't about to let that happen.
"Tactical," the avian looked to the officer adjacent to the Helm, "ready weapons. Helm, close distance and get us ahead of the shuttle."
Amelia had settled herself in at the helm and allowed herself a moment before setting about the task at hand. She increased power to the impulse engines and the Britannic rapidly closed the distance to the shuttle and pulled in front of it. "We're ahead of the shuttle. They're powering their weapons!"
The Aurelian Captain crossed his arms as he walked back to the Captain's Chair and took his seat, "We cannot allow this actor to leave, no matter the consequences. Target their engines, three second burst mode, and fire when ready."
Naois was speechless for a moment, did the captain just order the destruction of the shuttle? "Lock on to the shuttle occupant and beam him to the brig," he added, "we need him for the cure, and he needs to be held accountable for murder."
"And he will be, Commander, once we penetrate their shields," Qa'ada answered. For some reason he felt like he had to expand upon his answer, "Britannic has defensive weapons only and our Phasers are hardwired for low intensity mode. Unless someone broke interstellar treaty and gave her standard phasers we should disable the shuttle, not destroy it."
"What about disabling their shields by detonating a photon torpedo in the shuttles path? The shock wave would be enough to disable the shuttle without destroying it." Brooks spoke up from the science station. She wasn't a tactical officer but the idea sounded like a fairly good one to her.
The Britannic's Captain turned, "Normally I would agree with that suggestion, but as a hospital ship, we're not outfitted with Photon Torpedoes. Starfleet outfitted us with defensive weapons only when we launched, aside from a few converted probes that don't have much range or tracking ability." He looked up at Tactical, "Phasers, fir..."
The enemy shuttle went to Warp.
Qa'ada turned, "Report!"
At the Tactical Station, Ensign Croia typed on the terminal. Adjusting her readouts, the Caitian turned away with a dejected look on her face, "The shuttle has gone to its maximum speed, Captain. They're using countermeasures to mask their Warp trail. I'm afraid that we've lost them."
The Aurelian Captain balled his fists at his side and stood silently for a moment as the gravity of what had happened sunk in. Considering their failure to apprehend the source of the attack, the alien walked toward the Captain's Chair on the starboard side of the Bridge within the railing workstations. He looked down at his Captain's Chair and the gravity of their failure weighed upon him, far more than any would ever know. He lifted his head and walked toward his office instead.
"Stand down from Red Alert," he said from just outside of his office. "Transmit our copies of the vaccine to the surface for the usage of the Medical Teams there. We'll remain in orbit to assist them with producing the vaccine and treatment before returning to base." He looked at the XO, "You have the Bridge."
"Undeleting the files," Toareth said after a moment of allowing the tension on the Bridge to mitigate just a bit. She looked to the XO and stepped away from her medical station. "I found the body of Dr. Tukuk stored in the transporter buffer of the hospital down there. Alerting the colony's computer of his passing may release his command codes. With that, between me, Operations, and Engineering, we may be able to access his records and find a way to undelete the replication matrix of the vaccine. Our mission, sir, was to resolve the pandemic on Xachara. We can still do that...now...today. That murderer," she pointed to vacant space on the viewscreen, "I suggest we put out a BOLO and go after him later." Toareth allowed her suggestion to sink a short second before adding, "Sir."
"A description has been sent to Starfleet, every ship in the sector will be looking for him," Naois answered empathically, "your primary concern is those people."
At the helm, Amelia had her hand poised over the warp drive control. When the shuttle went to warp, she had assumed they would follow only to discover they could not. After the report from the tactical officer, she brought the ship to a full stop and half turned her head toward the XO. "Orders sir?"
"For now, return to orbit," Naois ordered, his eyes sill on the avian captain, casting him a look of concern. "Doctor, if you need help with recovering those files, draw on anyone aboard with the expertise to do so. If you need help with the vaccines, or sickbay in general, let me know."
Toareth was not entirely certain what she needed. And she had never formed an Away Team. To top it all off, she had never attempted what she could only hope would work. "The best chances of this working will be for Operations," she looked to her guaranteed future friend, Amelia, "and perhaps Engineering," she looked to Faith. "Anyone who knows computer systems inside and out." Toareth would also need the help of Dr. Devereaux down on Xachara. She did not feel that to be too big a problem.
"Aye Sir, reassuming standard orbit." Amelia reported.
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